Holy Wars
A religious war or a war of religion, sometimes also known as a holy war (Latin: sanctum bellum), is a war and conflict which is primarily caused or justified by differences in religion and beliefs. In the modern period, there are frequent debates over the extent to which religious, economic, ethnic or other aspects of a conflict are predominant in a given war. The degree to which a war may be considered religious depends on many underlying questions, such as the definition of religion, the definition of 'war', and the applicability of religion to war as opposed to other possible factors.
According to scholars such as Jeffrey Burton Russell, conflicts may not be rooted strictly in religion and instead may be a cover for the underlying secular power, ethnic, social, political, and economic reasons for conflict. Other scholars have argued that what is termed "religious wars" is a largely "Western dichotomy" and a modern invention from the past few centuries, arguing that all wars that are classed as "religious" have secular (economic or political) ramifications. In several conflicts including the Israeli–Palestinian and Indo–Pakistani conflicts and the wars in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, religious elements are overtly present, but variously described as fundamentalism or religious extremism—depending upon the observer's sympathies. However, studies on these cases often conclude that ethnic animosities drive much of the conflicts.
Scholars often caution about oversimplifications of "religion", "war", "violence" etc since these are highly complex phenomenon that do differ throughout time, non-religious/religious factors often overlap, and numerous examples of so-called religious wars have counter-intuitive configurations (e.g. people from the same religions fought each other, people from different religions became allies) indicating stronger motivations in war that are not necessarily related to religion. Religions, ethical systems, and societies rarely promote violence as an end in of itself. Historians recommend nuancing these kinds of discussions. According to the Encyclopedia of Wars, out of all 1,763 known/recorded historical conflicts, 121, or 6.87%, had religion as their primary cause. Matthew White's The Great Big Book of Horrible Things gives religion as the primary cause of 11 of the world's 100 deadliest atrocities. Such estimates and others have been reviewed by historians of religious wars and indicate that historically, religion was not a common source for war or conflict and that other mundane factors (e.g. territorial,
ethnic, and economic concerns) played a more frequent role as primary causes of war. Due to this, historians generally do not embrace narratives that religions are more violent or cause most wars. Numerous amounts of non-religious violence are discernible in modern history.
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